The default view is that the government should dramatically expand redistribution programs, forcing the well-endowed – especially business and the rich – to provide a decent standard of living for everyone. I strongly reject this default view.
Tag: hunger
A Short Hop from Bleeding Heart to Mailed Fist
When Hugo Chavez began ruling Venezuela, he sounded like a classic bleeding-heart – full of pity for the poor and downtrodden. Plenty of people took him at his words – not just Venezuelans, but much of the international bleeding-heart community. By the time Chavez died, however, many admirers were already having second thoughts about his dictatorial tendencies.
The Creepy Obsession
I’ve come to believe that most people who claim to be hunting or fighting pedophiles are simply hungry for someone it’s socially OK to obsessively hate; someone they can safely post revenge porn about. It’s their version of Nazi hunting. Most even misdefine “pedophile” and “child” so they’ll have more targets available.
On Coming to Grips with the Nature of the State
That so many intellectuals talk about the state as if it were a sort of garden-party amusement, rather than the cold, merciless killing and plundering machine that it really is, now puzzles me. I don’t think the disconnect between the ivory-tower conceptions and the reality of the state springs so much from the philosophers and political scientists having prostituted themselves to the state as it springs from these thinkers’ not getting out more—or, barring actual first-hand involvement in the relevant realms, from their failure to learn more realistic history.
That’s Not Feminism: 3 Ways Women Advocate For Their Own Oppression
Something I often see in the feminist movement (and I am a feminist!) is women demanding for something that appears on the outside will liberate them, but in reality, it only furthers their oppression. Usually, the very nature of the thing they are asking for, the very concept of it is bred from patriarchal ideals and ways of thinking.
Capitalism vs. Socialism: General Thoughts on Bruenig
Bruenig builds her case on quotes from famous, pre-modern philosophers, interspersed with philosophical jargon. She references virtually no facts from the last two hundred years. When people who agree with me make arguments like this, I cringe. How can anyone expect to figure out anything about the real world using this fruitless method?
Lies, Damned Lies, Statistics
My latest Words Poorly Used blog made reference to a WAG (wild ass guess) number that attempted to purport that a large percentage of undocumented immigrants did not cross a border on the ground, but rather flew into the US, and then stayed after the visa expired. This has several takeaways, but the one that sticks with me is the problem with statistics.
Statists’ Intentions
The statist truly wants to “help” and is clueless about how to do so, and they decide that theft and aggression (wielded in just the right way, by just the right people) are the way to help. Yes, it’s a ridiculous belief, but it is sincere.
Are You Still Trusting Liars?
Cops lie. Court employees lie. Prosecutors lie. Crime labs lie. The mainstream media usually accepts these lies without question and passes them along, in the form of “press releases” or statements by those government employees, to a gullible public.
On Fire for Liberty
There are those who are able to use liberty when it is available. They don’t put any thought into it; it is just there, or it’s not. They are like the people who can use fire as a simple tool, as long as someone else provides it. There are then those who can see how liberty could be increased, and hunger for it when it is violated.